The Berlin Twitch streamer Kilian “Dance Ban” Heinrich struggles with his life and his work. After falling into a shopping addiction and barely being seen on Twitch, he fought his way back up in September 2024 and was earning around €10,000 a month through subscriptions on Twitch. But these subscriptions are all gone again.
That’s the problem with dance ban: The streamer Tanzban always has phases in which he is active on Twitch and earns money there. He pulled through during 2021 and 2022. From what we learn through the Twitch Tracker, he repeatedly had months where he earned up to €15,000 from subscriptions on Twitch alone.
But in 2023 he fell into a hole: He hung out with people like MontanaBlack, who have a lot more money to spend than him. Tanzban tried to keep up, but shopping excesses at the Kaufhaus des Westens led to a financial crisis. Mainly because he hardly streamed anymore, so no money came in, but he increased consumption. In addition, additional tax payments from the successful years were due.
At the end of 2023, Tanzban contacted him with a cry for help: he was broke. He himself stated ironically: He buys Balenciaga shirts for €400 that don’t even fit him because he thinks he’ll be able to recover after a diet. He continues to gain weight.
Twitch streamer Tanzban talks about his difficult past and still regrets his lack of schooling to this day
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Twitch streamer wants to pull through, fans catch him – but then he’s gone again
So he picked himself up again: The streamer managed to stream regularly again at the beginning of 2024. In the months that followed, the fans’ money started flowing again. Many wanted to support him, Tanzban 2 repeatedly held up his fingers to the cameras and thanked loyal fans for the next big donation.
But the dance ban fell through again in April and was hardly active anymore.
The last active phase on Twitch was no dancing in September 2024, when he had again worked his way up to €10,000 per month through Twitch subscriptions. But since then he has barely streamed. His current income from subscriptions is around €250.
“I don’t know what to do anymore”
This is what dance ban says: In a tweet at the turn of the year, Tanzban was angry with himself. He had been inactive for a long time again, a lot had happened in his private life and that had dragged him into a hole.
He also developed an unhealthy relationship with partying. He doesn’t know what to do anymore.
From further comments it becomes clear that Tanzban doesn’t take drugs, but apparently has mental problems that paralyze him.
People want those banned from dancing to find professional help
How is this discussed? In this situation, many people on Reddit are offering remote diagnoses that attest to this or that problem for the streamer.
Ultimately, however, many hope that Tanzban will be able to seek professional help to address his problems. But suitable therapy places are rare in many places, as we know.
This is what lies behind it: The ban on dancing highlights two problems that arise both from Twitch and from working as a self-employed person in Germany. Because both systems reward regular work and punish ups and downs:
The subscriptions that bring money on Twitch expire after one month. If the streamer takes a long break, people subscribe elsewhere and it’s appealing to encourage them to “re-subscribe” again. That’s why many streamers have already complained about the enormous pressure that comes from the system and that they’re stuck in a treadmill
The tax system also makes it unfavorable for self-employed people to earn a lot of money one year and very little money the next. Because the tax advance payment for a year is based on the income of the last year: If Tanzban earns excellently in 2022, he first has to pay a lot for 2022 and then make a high tax advance payment for 2023.
If things go badly in 2023, he will get the money back later, but first he has to advance it.
This certainly all contributes to the ban on dancing falling into a hole – even if we don’t know the more private reasons.
Tanzban himself seems to be mostly sorry for the people who supported him financially when he was going through that “I’ll get back on my feet and pull through” phase. The streamer MontanaBlack even made a money bet with a ban on dancing to motivate him to stream. But apparently that could only delay the popular Berlin streamer from falling into the next creative crisis: German Twitch streamer still has a week to secure 1,000 euros and is working up a sweat